Marian Renta
BIO
A bona fide Jill of all trades, she is driven by the need to invoke emotions in people and tell a story. Praised for her passionate, soulful style of singing and heartfelt songwriting, Marian Renta also serves as her own producer, and possesses a natural flair for making ear-catching, thought-provoking music with experimental fixings. Furthermore, it is on Renta's incorporation of her impactful relationship experiences, and the alluring melodies in her experimental alt-pop sound that she is gaining momentum.
"Since I wake up everyday with lyrics on my mind and ideas about how to touch someone with a melody, this is definitely what I need to be doing." —Marian Renta (Jul. 2021)
Those early days
Born in Brooklyn, New York, Marian Renta is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and pianist known for her highly emotive singing style, unique vocal tone, and elaborate songwriting. Extensively trained in music, she was brought up in Newport News suburbia by her father—a former disc jockey, in southeast Virginia. She was formally trained as a pianist in middle school and classically trained as pianist and composer in high school during a time when post-grunge dominated the airwaves. By ninth grade, she had gravitated towards her school’s music lab and began learning how to engineer audio and produce music. As a life-long poet up to that point, Marian began writing songs and producing demos, ultimately spreading them around circles of friends and other musicians and singers. One of these songs caught the attention of the school’s music director, John Boyles, and he would subsequently allot studio time for Marian to further her craft. Throughout high school, she was an active member of the school choir, the pianist and choir member of the Baptist church she attended, and pianist of the Woodside High School Jazz Ensemble.
The debut and hiatus
In 2004, Marian established a home recording studio and began uploading cover songs and original songs to social media platforms. She experimented with various genres such as reggae, blues, and electronica in those early days. In 2010, Marian began working on new material for a studio album and sought to create an R&B concept album with elements of soul and pop. Consisting of fourteen songs, the album was promoted with the digital release of two singles—"Leave You", released on May 22, 2011, and the second single, "Eye for an Eye", released on August 11, 2011. The debut effort One of a Kind was released digitally on November 15, 2011 under her first imprint label, Hail Stunna. Three years after the album's release, Marian went on hiatus to focus on her personal life and pursue an outside career. She used the time away from her music to strengthen her familial relationships and to nurse a bout of writer's block she experienced.
Return to music and Headfirst
In 2020, amid the chaos and bedlam, Marian was moved by a tidal wave of inspiration for songwriting. By way of a series of social and personal experiences, she began working on material for a new recording project. She drew inspiration from sounds and themes explored by new-age German bands like Enigma and Tangerine Dream, and sought to incorporate a soulful, indie pop sound into these themes to create a fresh start to her sound. She abandoned the formulaic R&B style of song and birthed a stripped down, bare bones, dreamlike, expressive signature genre. At the turn of that year, she ultimately released her first extended play (EP) Headfirst on January 13, 2021, reinvigorating her music career and reestablishing her presence in the music industry. Released independently under her new label Marian Renta Co., Headfirst spawned a music video for the EP's title-track and garnered positive reception from general audiences for its lyrical depth and powerful vocal performance.